Civil society organisation, Education for Accelerated Development (EAD), has described the recent allegations made by the factional president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Comrade Atiku Abubakar Isah, against Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, as a hoax and a piece of fabrication.
The factional NANS president had accused Seyi Tinubu of bribery, torture, and abduction.
He also alleged that Seyi attempted to disrupt the inauguration of the NANS leadership in Abuja, dispersed the crowd using thugs, and locked up the inauguration venue—claims the EAD describes as baseless.
In a statement issued to journalists yesterday in Abuja by Dr. Abdulkadir Fuad, the group questioned how the factional NANS president concluded that the President’s son had a hand in his so-called abduction, yet failed to report the incident to security agencies and instead resorted to social media.
The group called it a targeted attempt to malign and discredit Seyi Tinubu.
The group also faulted the claim that Seyi Tinubu offered him N100 million to support President Tinubu’s re-election bid—an election still two years away—pointing out that Isah would not even be in office by then, “assuming he were even the authentic NANS president.”
The group urged the public to disregard the allegations, describing them as the accuser‘s desperate attempt to seek sympathy and remain relevant to his alleged sponsors.
The statement, in part, reads, “To begin with, the man masquerading as NANS president is an impostor and impersonator who seeks cheap relevance in the name of the student body.
“The last we checked, the NANS president is Olusola Ladoja, the legitimately and legally recognised leader of Nigerian students.
“Isah is claiming he was offered a bribe of N100 million to support the re-election of President Bola Tinubu. This is entirely false. The next election is in 2027, and the President’s son is currently focused on promoting better welfare for Nigerian youths under his father’s administration. He is least concerned with an election that is still two years away.
“Assuming he were the authentic NANS president, would he remain in office till 2027, given that the term is just one year? This is ridiculous and reeks of a desperate attempt to malign.
“When the President won in 2023, was it because of someone like Isah? Or was it through the collective mandate of an overwhelming majority of Nigerians? He won against all odds, outside of office, and the masses who supported him in 2023 are even more pleased with the reforms he has introduced to boost the nation’s socio-economic landscape,” the group stated.
It’s also maintained that if Isah was indeed abducted anywhere in the country, he should report the incident to the security agencies, and challenge him to provide concrete evidence of the alleged bribery against Seyi Tinubu.
The group said Isah and his sponsors envy Seyi Tinubu‘s growing public acceptance among Nigerian youths. It credited him with using his platform to empower and support young people. The group called on detractors to desist from an unprovoked defamation campaign against him.
